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"When people receive one of our birthday greetings, they're generally surprised that somebody would have gone to the time and effort to research all the information that happened on the day they were born," says Frederick Bonebrake, president and founder of Spectrum Unlimited LLC, a San Francisco-based software manufacturer and creator of personalized greetings. "Little do they know that the information came from a piece of software that [only] required the [licensee] to type in a name and birthdate and click print."

Simple as that sounds, as a licensee, you've still got to find clients to buy your product-but there's nothing too complicated about that, either. Insurance brokers, lawyers and anyone who wants to impart a personalized greeting are all prospects. Information included in the greeting includes a list of celebrities who share your birthday; events that happened on that day; and scientific and technological advancements, economic and cultural information from your date, month and year of birth.

Bonebrake developed the software for Spectrum Unlimited in 1987 and now mines information from 18 databases to come up with statistics and milestones from 1880 to today. And it's not just birthdays-Spectrum Unlimited licensees print greetings for anniversaries and other special events as well. Bonebrake recently made 200 scrolls to celebrate the recommissioning of a Navy ship.

"The product generates good feelings for [everyone] involved with the product," says Bonebrake, who is currently working on a system that would allow licensees to e-mail greetings as well. "The giver undoubtedly will receive a phone call of thanks because there's a high perceived value."